Nurse Trades Grandma’s Diabetic Insulin for ‘Prayers’ and Dietary supplements, Resulting in Her Demise: DA

“I argued for six years in jail,” Assistant District Lawyer Sidney Brubacher informed Regulation&Crime on Thursday, someday after a a lot lighter sentence for Kandise L. Sheahen, 38, was handed down.

“I laid out the seriousness of the offense, how she knew she was doing one thing mistaken and tried to cowl it up,” Brubacher stated, “how she was a nurse who was fired for not getting vaccinated and continued treating sufferers with out having the authority to.”

“The choose simply ignored me fully,” the ADA lamented. “Mentioned she thought she wasn’t a hazard to the general public.”

In Could, after about two hours of deliberation, Sheahen was discovered responsible of negligently subjecting a person in danger to abuse, inflicting demise, per court docket data. She was sentenced this week to 9 months within the Marathon County Jail and 6 years of probation, per the Wausau Pilot & Overview.

On the time of her demise, Sheahen’s grandmother, who has not been recognized, measured a blood glucose stage larger than 600, in line with prosecutors. Within the days main as much as her demise, data confirmed her glucose ranges between 300 and 500, which may be dangerously excessive when unmanaged.

In keeping with the Cleveland Clinic, a wholesome blood glucose for somebody with out diabetes is round 70 to 99, whereas for in any other case wholesome diabetics can vary barely extra (50 to 140). Glucose ranges over 600 typically result in diabetic coma and/or demise.

As a part of the proof used to safe a responsible conviction, Brubacher and his staff combed Sheahen’s social media accounts, the place she decried medicines and spoke of the facility of “prayer” as an alternative.

“My objective in doing that is actually to be the palms and ft of Jesus,” she stated in a single video, per police documentation. “I actually need to assist individuals. And I would like them to get off all of the crap that the healthcare system places them on.”

She went on to speak particularly about being the caregiver for her grandmother. “She was on 18 completely different drugs. She was on 70 some items of the long-acting insulin twice a day, and like 30 or 40 of the short-acting,” she defined within the video. “And as time has went on and the extra information I’ve gained and the extra power I’ve gotten from God, I’ve realized that maintain on, like let’s, we do not want this a lot. That is ridiculous.”

In one other video, she touted the modifications she’d made to her grandmother’s drugs routine, sharing that she had diminished her insulin and brought her off of Tylenol fully. In keeping with Brubacher, Sheahen typically interacted with and referred to as out her followers, as properly, for not following her “prayer”-driven methodology.

“Belief Jesus, say your prayers, and take your nutritional vitamins,” she stated. To 1 consumer with a diabetic partner, Sheahen urged her to “get [him] off his f–king insulin earlier than he will get sick.”

“She clearly and repeatedly stated, ‘I do not consider in insulin, I feel the medical follow is letting individuals down,'” Brubacher informed Regulation&Crime. “So yeah, she’s a menace to the general public.”

Sheahen’s grandmother had been on diabetic medicine for 3 a long time earlier than Sheahen made the choice to begin modifying her therapy plan. In lieu of the required insulin she took every day, Sheahen gave her grandmother unspecified dietary supplements she was additionally promoting on-line.

Police responded to Sheahen’s residence on January 8, 2022, the place they encountered her grandmother dying. Regardless of her dangerously excessive blood glucose ranges, Sheahen informed first responders she didn’t need her grandmother taken to a hospital. She additionally refused to permit them to take her vitals.

An post-mortem carried out after her demise confirmed that the grandmother died from diabetic ketoacidosis, which is what can occur when a diabetic’s physique doesn’t have sufficient insulin and produces excessive ranges of ketones by breaking down fats for power, creating acidic blood.

Extra complicating components embody a Covid an infection and cardiac considerations. The Pilot & Overview additionally stories the lady had a catheter and IV in place on the time of her demise, however there was no proof of a medical order for both gadget.

Brubacher additionally stated that he believes “she would have gotten away with it,” as she tried to have her grandmother cremated “inside 24 hours” of her demise. She was stopped by one among her extra skeptical relations, who felt “one thing was not proper” with that call. That member of the family referred to as the police and requested them to look into her demise.

Calling Sheahen’s conduct “predatory,” Brubacher informed Regulation&Crime that it has been a controversial case, with members of Sheahen’s circle of relatives break up on whether or not she dealt with her grandmother’s therapy correctly — some assume she did — or not — some assume she has “issues.” The grandmother herself, per the Pilot & Overview, purportedly informed relations she feared for her security at residence.

“Quite a lot of the household who’re in help of her gave statements for her [at her sentencing hearing],” he informed the outlet. “After which there are different relations who assume it is only a travesty and joke. They thought 9 months in jail and probation was a slap of their face.”